Afloat And Ashore by James Fenimore Cooper

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a round of activity as that of a house. This kept us all busy untilnight, when the watches were told off and set. I was in the larboard,or chief-mate's watch, having actually been chosen by thathard-featured old seaman, the fourth man he named; an honour for whichI was indebted to the activity I had already manifested aloft. Rupertwas less distinguished, being taken by the captain for thesecond-mate's watch, the very last person chosen. That nightMr. Marble dropped a few hints on the subject, which let me into thesecret of these two selections. "You and I will get along welltogether, I see that plainly, Miles," he said, "for there'squicksilver in your body. As for your friend in t'other watch, it'sall as it should be; the captain has got one hand the most, and suchas he is, he is welcome to him. He'll blacken more writing paper thisv'y'ge, I reckon, than he'll tar down riggin'." I thought it odd,however, that Rupert, who had been so forward in all the preliminariesof our adventure, should fall so far astern in its first practicalresults.

It is not my intention to dwell on all the minute incidents of this,my first voyage to sea, else would it spin out the narrativeunnecessarily, and render my task as fatiguing to the reader, as itmight prove to myself. One occurrence, however, which took place threedays out, must be mentioned, as it will prove to be connected withimportant circumstances in the end. The ship was now in order, and wasat least two hundred leagues from the land, having had a famous runoff the coast, when the voice of the cook, who had gone below forwater, was heard down among the casks, in such a clamour as none but ablack can raise, with all his loquacity awakened.

"There's _two_ niggers at that work!" exclaimed Mr. Marble,after listening an instant, glancing his eye round to make certain themulatto steward was not in the discussion. "No _one_ darkey evercould make all that outcry. Bear a hand below, Miles, and see ifAfrica has come aboard us in the night."

I was in the act of obeying, when Cato, the cook, was seen risingthrough the steerage-hatch, dragging after him the dark poll ofanother black, whom he had gripped by the wool. In an instant bothwere on deck, when, to my astonishment, I discovered the agitatedcountenance of Nebuchadnezzar Clawbonny. Of course the secret was out,the instant the lad's glistening features were recognised.

Neb, in a word, had managed to get on board the ship before she hauledout into the stream, and lay concealed among the water-casks, hispockets crammed with ginger-bread and apples, until discovered by thecook, in one of his journeys in quest of water. The food of the ladhad been gone twenty-four hours, and it is not probable the fellowcould have remained concealed much longer, had not this discoverytaken place. The instant he was on deck, Neb looked eagerly around toascertain how far the ship had got from the land, and, seeing nothingbut water on every side of him, he fairly grinned with delight. Thisexasperated Mr. Marble, who thought it was adding insult to injury,and he gave the lad a cuff on the ear that would have set a whitereeling. On Neb, however, this sharp blow produced no effect, fallingas it did on the impregnable part of his system.

"Oh! you're a nigger, be you?" exclaimed the mate, waxing warmer andwarmer, as he: fancied himself baffled by the other's powers ofendurance. "Take that, and let us see if you're full-blooded!"

A smart rap on the shin accompanying these words, Neb gave in on theinstant. He begged for mercy, and professed a readiness to tell all,protesting he was not "a runaway nigger"--a term the mate used whileapplying the kicks.

I now interfered, by telling Mr. Marble, with all the respect due froma green hand to a chief-mate, who Neb really was, and what I supposedto be his motives for following me to the ship. This revelation costme a good deal in the end, the idea of Jack's having a "waiting-man"on board giving rise to a great many jokes at my expense, during therest of the voyage. Had I not been so active, and so _willing,_ agreat source of favour on board a ship, it is probable these jokeswould have been much broader and more frequent. As it was, theyannoyed me a good deal; and it required a strong exercise of all theboyish regard I really entertained for Neb, to refrain from turning-toand giving him a sound threshing for his exploit, at the first goodoccasion. And yet, what was his delinquency compared to my own? He hadfollowed his master out of deep affection, blended somewhat, it istrue, with a love of adventure; while, in one sense, I had violatedall the ties of the heart, merely to indulge the latter passion.

The captain coming on deck, Neb's story was told, and, finding that nowages would be asked in behalf of this athletic, healthy, young negro,he had no difficulty in receiving him into favour. To Neb's greatdelight, he was sent forward to take his share on the yards and in therigging, there being no vacancy for him to fill about the camboose, orin the cabin. In an hour the negro was fed, and he was regularlyplaced in the starboard-watch. I was rejoiced at this lastarrangement, as it put the fellow in a watch different from my own,and prevented his officious efforts to do my work. Rupert, Idiscovered, however, profited often by his zeal, employing the willingblack on every possible occasion. On questioning Neb, I ascertainedthat he had taken the boat round to the Wallingford, and had made useof a dollar or two I had given him at parting, to board in a housesuitable to his colour, until the ship was ready for sea, when he goton board, and stowed himself among the water-casks, as mentioned.

Neb's apparition soon ceased to be a subject of discourse, and hiszeal quickly made him a general favourite. Hardy, strong, resolute,and accustomed to labour, he was early of great use in all the heavydrags; and aloft, even, though less quick than a white would havebeen, he got to be serviceable and reasonably expert. My ownprogress--and I say it without vanity, but simply because it wastrue--was the subject of general remark. One week made me familiarwith the running gear; and, by that time, I could tell a rope by itssize, the manner in which it led, and the place where it was belayed,in the darkest night, as well as the oldest seaman on board. It istrue, my model-ship had prepared the way for much of this expertness;but, free from all seasickness, of which I never had a moment in mylife, I set about learning these things in good earnest, and was fullyrewarded for my pains. I passed the weather-earing of themizen-top-sail when we had been out a fortnight, and went to those ofthe fore and main before we crossed the line. The mate put me forwardon all occasions, giving me much instruction in private; and thecaptain neglected no opportunity of giving me useful hints, orpractical ideas. I asked, and was allowed to take my regular trick atthe wheel, before we got into the latitude of St. Helena; and fromthat time did my full share of seaman's duly on board, the nicer workof knotting, splicing, &c., excepted. These last required a littlemore time; but I am satisfied that, in all things but judgment, aclever lad, who has a taste for the business, can make himself a veryuseful and respectable mariner in six months of active service.

China voyages seldom produce much incident. If the moment of sailinghas been judiciously timed, the ship has fair winds much of the way,and generally moderate weather. To be sure, there are points on thelong road that usually give one a taste of what the seas sometimesare; but, on the whole, a Canton voyage, though a long one, cannot becalled a rough one. As a matter of course, we had gales, and squalls,and the usual vicissitudes of the ocean, to contend with, though ourvoyage to Canton might have been called quiet, rather than thereverse. We were four months under our canvass, and, when we anchoredin the river, the clewing up of our sails, and getting from beneaththeir shadows, resembled the rising of a curtain on some novel scenicrepresentation. John Chinaman, however, has been so often described,particularly of late, that I shall not dwell on his peculiarities.Sailors, as a class, are very philosophical, so far as thepeculiarities and habits of strangers are concerned, appearing tothink it beneath the dignity of those who visit all lands, to betraywonder at the novelties of any. It so happened that no man on boardthe John, the officers, steward and cook excepted, had ever doubledthe Cape of Good Hope before this voyage; and yet our crew regardedthe shorn polls, slanting eyes, long queues, clumsy dresses, highcheek-bones, and lumbering shoes, of the people they now saw for thefirst time, with just as much indifference as they would haveencountered a new fashion at home. Most of them, indeed, had seen, orfancied they had seen, much stranger sights in the different countriesthey had visited; it being a standing rule, with Jack to compresseverything that is wonderful into the "last voyage"--that in which heis engaged for the present time being usually set down ascommon-place, and unworthy of particular comment. On this principle,_my_ Canton excursion _ought_ to be full of marvels, as itwas the progenitor of all that I subsequently saw and experienced as asailor. Truth compels me to confess, notwithstanding, that it was oneof the least wonderful of all the voyages I ever made, until near itsclose.

We lay some months in the river, getting cargo, receiving teas,nankins, silks and other articles, as our supercargo could lay handson them. In all this time, we saw just as much of the Chinese as it isusual for strangers to see, and not a jot more. I was much up at thefactories, with the captain, having charge of his boat; and, as forRupert, he passed most of his working-hours either busy with thesupercargo ashore, or writing in the cabin. I got a good insight,however, into the uses of the serving-mallet, the fid, marlinspike andwinch, and did something with the needle and palm. Marble was verygood to me, in spite of his nor-west face, and never let slip anoccasion to give a useful hint. I believe my exertions on theoutward-bound passage fully equalled expectations, and the officershad a species of pride in helping to make Captain Wallingford's sonworthy of his honourable descent. I had taken occasion to let it beknown that Rupert's great-grandfather had been a man-of-war captain;but the suggestion was met by a flat, refusal to believe it fromMr. Kite, the second-mate, though Mr. Marble remarked it _might_be so, as I admitted that both his father and grandfather had been, orwere, in the Church. My friend seemed fated to achieve nothing but theglory of a "barber's clerk."

Our hatches were got on and battened down, and we sailed for homeearly in the spring of 1798. The ship had a good run across the ChinaSea, and reached the Indies in rather a short passage. We had clearedall the islands, and were fairly in the Indian Ocean, when anadventure occurred, which was the first really worthy of being relatedthat we met in the whole voyage. I shall give it, in as few words aspossible.

We had cleared the Straits of Sunda early in the morning, and had madea pretty fair run in the course of the day, though most of the time inthick weather. Just as the sun set, however, the horizon became clear,and we got a sight of two small sail seemingly heading in towards thecoast of Sumatra, proas by their rig and dimensions. They were sodistant, and were so evidently steering for the land, that no one gavethem much thought, or bestowed on them any particular attention. Proasin that quarter were usually distrusted by ships, it is true; but thesea is full of them, and far more are innocent than are guilty of anyacts of violence. Then it became dark soon after these craft wereseen, and night shut them in. An hour after the sun had set, the windfell to a light air, that just kept steerage-way on the ship.Fortunately, the John was not only fast, but she minded her helm, as alight-footed girl turns in a lively dance. I never was in abetter-steering ship, most especially in moderate weather.

Mr. Marble had the middle watch that night, and of course I was ondeck from midnight until four in the morning. It proved misty most ofthe watch, and for quite an hour we had a light drizzling rain. Theship, the whole time, was close-hauled, carrying royals. As everybodyseemed to have made up his mind to a quiet night, one without anyreefing or furling, most of the watch were sleeping about the decks,or wherever they could get good quarters, and be least in the way. Ido not know what kept me awake, for lads of my age are apt to get allthe sleep they can; but I believe I was thinking of Clawbonny, andGrace, and Lucy; for the latter, excellent girl as she was, oftencrossed my mind in those days of youth and comparative innocence.Awake I was, and walking in the weather-gangway, in a sailor'strot. Mr. Marble, he I do believe was fairly snoozing on thehen-coops, being, like the sails, as one might say, barely "asleep."At that moment I heard a noise, one familiar to seamen; that of an oarfalling in a boat. So completely was my mind bent on other and distantscenes, that at first I felt no surprise, as if we were in a harboursurrounded by craft of various sizes, coming and going at allhours. But a second thought destroyed this illusion, and I lookedeagerly about me. Directly on our weather-bow, distant perhaps acable's length, I saw a small sail, and I could distinguish itsufficiently well to perceive it was a proa. I sang out "Sail ho! andclose aboard!"

Mr. Marble was on his feet in an instant. He afterwards told me thatwhen he opened his eyes, for he admitted this much to me inconfidence, they fell directly on the stranger. He was too much of aseaman to require a second look, in order to ascertain what was to bedone. "Keep the ship away--keep her broad off!" he called out to theman at the wheel. "Lay the yards square--call all hands, one of you--Captain Robbins, Mr. Kite, bear a hand up; the bloody proas areaboard us!" The last part of this call was uttered in a loud voice,with the speaker's head down the companion-way. It was heard plainlyenough below, but scarcely at all on deck.

In the mean time, everybody was in motion. It is amazing how soonsailors are wide awake when there is really anything to do! Itappeared to me that all our people mustered on deck in less than aminute, most of them with nothing on but their shirts andtrowsers. The ship was nearly before the wind, by the time I heard thecaptain's voice; and then Mr. Kite came bustling in among us forward,ordering most of the men to lay aft to the braces, remaining himselfon the forecastle, and keeping me with him to let go the sheets. Onthe forecastle, the strange sail was no longer visible, being nowabaft the beam; but I could hear Mr. Marble swearing there were two ofthem, and that they must be the very chaps we had seen to leeward, andstanding in for the land, at sunset. I also heard the captain callingout to the steward to bring him a powder-horn. Immediately after,orders were given to let fly all our sheets forward, and then Iperceived that they were waring ship. Nothing saved us but the promptorder of Mr. Marble to keep the ship away, by which means, instead ofmoving towards the proas, we instantly began to move fromthem. Although they went three feet to our two, this gave us a momentof breathing time.

As our sheets were all flying forward, and remained so for a fewminutes, it gave me leisure to look about. I soon saw both proas, andglad enough was I to perceive that they had not approached materiallynearer. Mr. Kite observed this also, and remarked that our movementshad been so prompt as "to take the rascals aback." He meant, they didnot exactly know what we were at, and had not kept away with us.

At this instant, the captain and five or six of the oldest seamenbegan to cast loose all our starboard, or weather guns, four in all,and sixes. We had loaded these guns in the Straits of Banca, withgrape and canister, in readiness for just such pirates as were nowcoming down upon us; and nothing was wanting but the priming and a hotlogger-head. It seems two of the last had been ordered in the fire,when we saw the proas at sunset; and they were now in excellentcondition for service, live coals being kept around them all night bycommand. I saw a cluster of men busy with the second gun from forward,and could distinguish the captain pointing it.

"There cannot well be any mistake, Mr. Marble?" the captain observed,hesitating whether to fire or not.

"Mistake, sir? Lord, Captain Robbins, you might cannonade any of theislands astarn for a week, and never hurt an honest man. Let 'em haveit, sir; I'll answer for it, you do good."

This settled the matter. The loggerhead was applied, and one of oursixes spoke out in a smart report. A breathless stillnesssucceeded. The proas did not alter their course, but neared usfast. The captain levelled his night-glass, and I heard him tell Kite,in a low voice, that they were full of men. The word was now passed toclear away all the guns, and to open the arm-chest, to come at themuskets and pistols. I heard the rattling of the boarding-pikes, too,as they were cut adrift from the spanker-boom, and fell upon thedeck. All this sounded very ominous, and I began to think we shouldhave a desperate engagement first, and then have all our throats cutafterwards.

I expected now to hear the guns discharged in quick succession, butthey were got ready only, not fired. Kite went aft, and returned withthree or four muskets, and as many pikes. He gave the latter to thoseof the people who had nothing to do with the guns. By this time theship was on a wind, steering a good full, while the two proas werejust abeam, and closing fast. The stillness that reigned on both sideswas like that of death. The proas, however, fell a little more astern;the result of their own manoeuvring, out of all doubt, as they movedthrough the water much faster than the ship, seeming desirous ofdropping into our wake, with a design of closing under our stern, andavoiding our broad-side. As this would never do, and the windfreshened so as to give us four or five knot way, a most fortunatecircumstance for us, the captain determined to tack while he hadroom. The John behaved beautifully, and came round like a top. Theproas saw there was no time to lose, and attempted to close before wecould fill again; and this they would have done with ninety-nine shipsin a hundred. The captain knew his vessel, however, and did not lether lose her way, making everything draw again as it might be byinstinct. The proas tacked, too, and, laying up much nearer to thewind than we did, appeared as if about to close on our lee-bow. Thequestion was, now, whether we could pass them or not before they gotnear enough to grapple. If the pirates got on board us, we werehopelessly gone; and everything depended on coolness and judgment. Thecaptain behaved perfectly well in this critical instant, commanding adead silence, and the closest attention to his orders.

I was too much interested at this moment to feel the concern that Imight otherwise have experienced. On the forecastle, it appeared to usall that we should be boarded in a minute, for one of the proas wasactually within a hundred feet, though losing her advantage a littleby getting under the lee of our sails. Kite had ordered us to musterforward of the rigging, to meet the expected leap with a discharge ofmuskets, and then to present our pikes, when I felt an arm thrownaround my body, and was turned in-board, while another person assumedmy place. This was Neb, who had thus coolly thrust himself before me,in order to meet the danger first. I felt vexed, even while touchedwith the fellow's attachment and self-devotion, but had no time tobetray either feeling before the crews of the proas gave a yell, anddischarged some fifty or sixty matchlocks at us. The air was full ofbullets, but they all went over our heads. Not a soul on board theJohn was hurt. On our side, we gave the gentlemen the four sixes, twoat the nearest and two at the sternmost proa, which was still near acable's length distant. As often happens, the one seemingly farthestfrom danger, fared the worst. Our grape and canister had room toscatter, and I can at this distant day still hear the shrieks thatarose from that craft! They were like the yells of fiends in anguish.The effect on that proa was instantaneous; instead of keeping on afterher consort, she wore short round on her heel, and stood away in ourwake, on the other tack, apparently to get out of the range of ourfire.

I doubt if we touched a man in the nearest proa. At any rate, no noiseproceeded from her, and she came up under our bows fast. As every gunwas discharged, and there was not time to load them, all now dependedon repelling the boarders. Part of our people mustered in the waist,where it was expected the proa would fall alongside, and part on theforecastle. Just as this distribution was made, the pirates cast theirgrapnel. It was admirably thrown, but caught only by a ratlin. I sawthis, and was about to jump into the rigging to try what I could do toclear it, when Neb again went ahead of me, and cut the ratlin with hisknife. This was just as the pirates had abandoned sails and oars, andhad risen to haul up alongside. So sudden was the release, that twentyof them fell over by their own efforts. In this state the ship passedahead, all her canvass being full, leaving the proa motionless in herwake. In passing, however, the two vessels were so near, that thoseaft in the John distinctly saw the swarthy faces of their enemies.

We were no sooner clear of the proas than the order was given, "readyabout!" The helm was put down, and the ship came into the wind in aminute. As we came square with the two proas, all our larboard gunswere given to them, and this ended the affair. I think the nearest ofthe rascals got it this time, for away she went, after her consort,both running off towards the islands. We made a little show ofchasing, but it was only a feint; for we were too glad to get awayfrom them, to be in earnest. In ten minutes after we tacked the lasttime, we ceased firing, having thrown some eight or ten round-shotafter the proas, and were close-hauled again, heading to thesouth-west.

It is not to be supposed we went to sleep again immediately. Neb wasthe only man on board who did, but he never missed an occasion to eator sleep. The captain praised us, and, as a matter of course in thatday, he called all hands to "splice the main-brace." After this, thewatch was told to go below, as regularly as if nothing had happened.As for the captain himself, he and Mr. Marble and Mr. Kite went pryingabout the ship to ascertain if anything material had been cut by whatthe chief-mate called "the bloody Indian matchlocks." A littlerunning-rigging had suffered, and we had to reeve a few new ropes inthe morning; but this terminated the affair.

I need hardly say, all hands of us were exceedingly proud of ourexploit. Everybody was praised but Neb, who, being a "nigger," was insome way or other overlooked. I mentioned his courage and readinessto Mr. Marble, but I could excite in no one else the same respect forthe poor fellow's conduct, that I certainly felt myself. I have sincelived long enough to know that as the gold of the rich attracts toitself the gold of the poor, so do the deeds of the unknown go toswell the fame of the known. This is as true of nations, and races,and families, as it is of individuals; poor Neb belonging to aproscribed colour, it was not in reason to suppose he could everacquire exactly the same credit as a white man.

"Them darkies do sometimes blunder on a lucky idee," answeredMr. Marble to one of my earnest representations, "and I've known chapsamong 'em that were almost as knowing as dullish whites; buteverything out of the common way with 'em is pretty much chance. Asfor Neb, however, I will say this for him; that, for a nigger, hetakes things quicker than any of his colour I ever sailed with. Thenhe has no sa'ce, and that is a good deal with a black. White sa'ce isbad enough; but that of a nigger is unbearable."

Alas! Neb. Born in slavery, accustomed to consider it arrogance tothink of receiving even his food until the meanest white had satisfiedhis appetite, submissive, unrepining, laborious and obedient--thehighest eulogium that all these patient and unobtrusive qualitiescould obtain, was a reluctant acknowledgment that he had "no sa'ce."His quickness and courage saved the John, nevertheless; and I havealways said it, and ever shall.

A day after the affair of the proas, all hands of us began tobrag. Even the captain was a little seized with this mania; and as forMarble, he was taken so badly, that, had I not known he behaved wellin the emergency, I certainly should have set him down as aBobadil. Rupert manifested this feeling, too, though I heard he didhis duty that night. The result of all the talk was to convert theaffair into a very heroic exploit; and it subsequently figured in thejournals as one of the deeds that illustrate the American name.

From the time we were rid of the proas, the ship got along famouslyuntil we were as far west as about 52 degrees, when the wind camelight from the southward and westward, with thick weather. The captainhad been two or three times caught in here, and he took it into hishead that the currents would prove more favourable, could he stand incloser to the coast of Madagascar than common. Accordingly, we broughtthe ship on a bowline, and headed up well to the northward andwestward. We were a week on this tack, making from fifty to a hundredmiles a day, expecting hourly to see the land. At length we made it,enormously high mountains, apparently a long distance from us, though,as we afterwards ascertained, a long distance inland; and we continuedto near it. The captain had a theory of his own about the currents ofthis part of the ocean, and, having set one of the peaks by compass,at the time the land was seen, he soon convinced himself, andeverybody else whom he tried to persuade, Marble excepted, that wewere setting to windward with visible speed. Captain Robbins was awell-meaning, but somewhat dull man; and, when dull men, becometheorists, they usually make sad work with the practice.

Ail that night we stood on to the northward and westward, thoughMr. Marble had ventured a remonstrance concerning a certain head-landthat was just visible, a little on our weather-bow. The captainsnapped his fingers at this, however; laying down a course ofreasoning, which, if it were worth anything, ought to have convincedthe mate that the weatherly set of the current would carry us tenleagues to the southward and westward of that cape, before morning. Onthis assurance, we prepared to pass a quiet and comfortable night.

I had the morning watch, and when I came on deck, at four, there wasno change in the weather. Mr. Marble soon appeared, and he walked intothe waist, where I was leaning on the weather-rail, and fell intodiscourse. This he often did, sometimes so far forgetting thedifference in our stations _afloat_--not _ashore_; _there_ I hadconsiderably the advantage of him--as occasionally to call me "sir." Ialways paid for this inadvertency, however, it usually putting a stopto the communications for the time being. In one instance, he tooksuch prompt revenge for this implied admission of equality, asliterally to break off short in the discourse, and to order me, in hissharpest key, to go aloft and send some studding-sails on deck, thoughthey all had to be sent aloft again, and set, in the course of thesame watch. But offended dignity is seldom considerate, and not alwaysconsistent.

"Why, yes, somewhatish,--though I don't think he knows himself exactlywhat his own opinion is. This is the third v'y'ge I've sailed with theold gentleman, and he is half his time in a fog or a current. Now,it's his idee the ocean is full of Mississippi rivers, and if onecould only find the head of a stream, he might go round the world init. More particularly does he hold that there is no fear of the landwhen in a current, as a stream never sets on shore. For my part, Inever want any better hand-lead than my nose."

"Nose, Mr. Marble?"

"Yes, nose, Master Miles. Haven't you remarked how far we smelt theInjees, as we went through the islands?"

"It is true, sir, the Spice Islands, and all land, they say--"

"What the devil's that?" asked the mate, evidently startled atsomething he _heard_, though he appeared to _smell_ nothing,unless indeed it might be a rat.

"It sounds like water washing on rocks, sir, as much as anything Iever heard in my life!"

A scene of confusion followed, in the midst of which the captain,second-mate, and the watch below, appeared on deck. Captain Robbinstook command, of course, and was in time to haul the after-yards, theship coming round slowly in so light a wind. Come round she did,however, and, when her head was fairly to the southward and eastward,the captain demanded an explanation. Mr. Marble did not feel disposedto trust his nose any longer, but he invited the captain to use hisears. This all hands did, and, if sounds could be trusted, we had apretty lot of breakers seemingly all around us.

"We surely can go out the way we came in, Mr. Marble?" said thecaptain, anxiously.

"Yes, sir, if there were no _current_; but one never knows wherea bloody current will carry him in the dark."

"Stand by to let go the anchor!" cried the captain. "Let run and clewup, forward and aft. Let go as soon as you're ready, Mr. Kite."

Luckily, we had kept a cable bent as we came through the Straits, and,not knowing but we might touch at the Isle of France, it was stillbent, with the anchor fished. We had talked of stowing the latterin-board, but, having land in sight, it was not done. In two minutesit was a-cock-bill, and, in two more, let go. None knew whether weshould find a bottom; but Kite soon sang out to "snub," the anchorbeing down, with only six fathoms out. The lead corroborated this, andwe had the comfortable assurance of being not only among breakers, butjust near the coast. The holding-ground, however, was reported good,and we went to work and rolled up all our rags. In half an hour theship was snug, riding by the stream, with a strong current, or tide,setting exactly north-east, or directly opposite to the captain'stheory. As soon as Mr. Marble had ascertained this fact, I overheardhim grumbling about something, of which I could distinctly understandnothing but the words "Bloody cape--bloody current."

CHAPTER V.

"They hurried us aboard a bark; Bore us some leagues to sea; where they prepared A rotten carcass of a boat, not rigg'd, Nor tackle, sail, nor mast: the very rats Instinctively had girt us--" _Tempest._

The hour that succeeded in the calm of expectation, was one of themost disquieting of my life. As soon as the ship was secured, andthere no longer remained anything to do, the stillness of deathreigned among us; the faculties of every man and boy appearing to beabsorbed in the single sense of hearing--the best, and indeed theonly, means we then possessed of judging of our situation. It was nowapparent that we were near some place or places where the surf wasbreaking on land; and the hollow, not-to-be-mistaken bellowings of theelement, too plainly indicated that cavities in rocks frequentlyreceived, and as often rejected, the washing waters. Nor did theseportentous sounds come from one quarter only, but they seemed tosurround us; now reaching our ears from the known direction of theland, now from the south, the north-east, and, in fact, from everydirection. There were instances when these moanings of the oceansounded as if close under our stern, and then again they came fromsome point within a fearful proximity to the bows.

Happily the wind was light, and the ship rode with a moderate strainon the cable, so as to relieve us from the apprehension of immediatedestruction. There was a long, heavy ground-swell rolling in from, thesouth-west, but, the lead giving us, eight fathoms, the sea did notbreak exactly where we lay; though the sullen washing that came to ourears, from time to time, gave unerring notice that it was doing soquite near us, independently of the places where it broke uponrocks. At one time the captain's impatience was so goading, that hehad determined to pull round the anchorage in a boat, in order toanticipate the approach of light; but a suggestion from Mr. Marblethat he might unconsciously pull into a roller, and capsize, inducedhim to wait for day.

The dawn appeared at last, after two or three of the longest hours Iremember ever to have passed. Never shall I forget the species offurious eagerness with which we gazed about us. In the first place, wegot an outline of the adjacent land; then, as light diffused itselfmore and more into the atmosphere, we caught glimpses of itsdetails. It was soon certain we were within a cable's length ofperpendicular cliffs of several hundred feet in height, into whosecaverns the sea poured at times, producing those frightful, hollowmoanings, that an experienced ear can never mistake. This cliffextended for leagues in both directions, rendering drowning nearlyinevitable to the shipwrecked mariner on that inhospitablecoast. Ahead, astern, outside of us, and I might almost say all aroundus, became visible, one after another, detached ledges, breakers andripples; so many proofs of the manner in which Providence had guidedus through the hours of darkness.

By the time the sun appeared, for, happily, the day proved bright andclear, we had obtained pretty tolerable notions of the criticalsituation in which we were placed by means of the captain's theory ofcurrents. The very cape that we were to drift past, lay some tenleagues nearly dead to windward, as the breeze then was; while toleeward, far as the eye could reach, stretched the same inhospitable,barrier of rock as that which lay on our starboard quarter and beam.Such was my first introduction to the island of Madagascar; a portionof the world, of which, considering its position, magnitude andproductions, the mariners of Christendom probably know less than ofany other. At the time of which I am writing, far less had beenlearned of this vast country than is known to-day, though theknowledge of even our own immediate contemporaries is of anexceedingly limited character.

Now that the day had returned, the sun was shining on us cheerfully,and the sea looked tranquil and assuring, the captain became morepacified. He had discretion enough to understand that time andexamination were indispensable to moving the ship with safety; and hetook the wise course of ordering the people to get their breakfasts,before he set us at work. The hour that was thus employed forward, waspassed aft in examining the appearance of the water, and the positionsof the reefs around the ship. By the time we were through, the captainhad swallowed his cup of coffee and eaten his biscuit; and, callingaway four of the most athletic oarsmen, he got into the jolly-boat,and set out on the all-important duty of discovering a channelsea-ward. The lead was kept moving, and I shall leave the party thusemployed for an hour or more, while we turn our attention in-board.

Marble beckoned me aft, as soon as Captain Robbins was in the boat,apparently with a desire to say something in private. I understood themeaning of his eye, and followed him down into the steerage, where allthat was left of the ship's water was now stowed, that on deck havingbeen already used. The mate had a certain consciousness about him thatinduced great caution, and he would not open his lips until he hadrummaged about below some time, affecting to look for a set of blocksthat might be wanted for some purpose or other, on deck. When this hadlasted a little time, he turned short round to me, and let out thesecret of the whole manoeuvre.

"I'll tell you what, Master Miles," he said, making a sign with afinger to be cautious, "I look upon this ship's berth as worse thanthat of a city scavenger. We've plenty of water all round us, andplenty of rocks, too. If we knew the way back, there is no wind tocarry us through it, among these bloody currents, and there's no harmin getting ready for the worst. So do you get Neb and thegentleman"--Rupert was generally thus styled in the ship--"and clearaway the launch first. Get everything out of it that don't belongthere; after which, do you put these breakers in, and wait for furtherorders. Make no fuss, putting all upon orders, and leave the rest tome."

I complied, of course, and in a few minutes the launch wasclear. While busy, however, Mr. Kite came past, and desired to know"what are you at there?" I told him 'twas Mr. Marble's orders, and thelatter gave his own explanation of the matter.

"The launch may be wanted," he said, "for I've no notion thatjolly-boat will do to go out as far as we shall find it necessary tosound. So I am about to ballast the launch, and get her sails ready;there's no use in mincing matters in such a berth as this."

Kite approved of the idea, and even went so far as to suggest that itmight be well enough to get the launch into the water at once, by wayof saving time. The proposition was too agreeable to be rejected, and,to own the truth, all hands went to work to get up the tackles with awill, as it is called. In half an hour the boat was floatingalongside the ship. Some said she would certainly be wanted to carryout the stream-anchor, if for nothing else; others observed that halfa dozen boats would not be enough to find all the channel we wanted;while Marble kept his eye, though always in an underhand way, on hismain object. The breakers we got in and stowed, filled with_fresh_ water, by way of ballast. The masts were stepped, theoars were put on board, and a spare compass was passed dawn, lest theship might be lost in the thick weather, of which there was so much,just in that quarter of the world. All this wars said and done soquietly, that nobody took the alarm; and when the mate called out, ina loud voice, "Miles, pass a bread-bag filled and some cold grub intothat launch--the men may be hungry before they get back," no oneseemed to think more was meant than was thus openly expressed. I hadmy private orders, however, and managed to get quite a hundred-weightof good cabin biscuit into the launch, while the cook was directed tofill his coppers with pork. I got some of the latter _raw_ intothe boat, too; _raw_ pork being food that sailors in no mannerdisdain. They say it eats like chestnuts.

In the mean time, the captain was busy in his exploring expedition, onthe return from which he appeared to think he was better rewarded thanhas certainly fallen to the lot of others employed on anotherexpedition which bears the same name. He was absent near two hours,and, when he got back, it was to renew his theory of what Mr. Marblecalled his "bloody currents."

"I've got behind the curtain, Mr. Marble," commenced Captain Robbins,before he was fairly alongside of the ship again, whereupon Marblemuttered "ay! ay! you've got behind the rocks, too!" "It's all owingto an eddy that is made in-shore by the main current, and we havestretched a _leetle_ too far in."

Even I thought to myself, what would have become of us had westretched a _leetle_ further in! The captain, however, seemedsatisfied that he could carry the ship out, and, as this was all wewanted, no one was disposed to be very critical. A word was said aboutthe launch, which the mate had ordered to be dropped astern, out ofthe way, and the explanation seemed to mystify the captain. In themeanwhile, the pork was boiling furiously in the coppers.

All hands were now called to get the anchor up. Rupert and I wentaloft to loosen sails, and we staid there until the royals weremast-headed. In a very few minutes the cable was up and down, and thencame the critical part of the whole affair. The wind was still verylight, and it was a question whether the ship could be carried past areef of rocks that now began to show itself above water, and on whichthe long, heavy rollers, that came undulating from the south-westernAtlantic, broke with a sullen violence that betrayed how powerful wasthe ocean, even in its moments of slumbering peacefulness. The risingand falling of its surface was like that of some monster's chest, ashe respired heavily in sleep.

Even the captain hesitated about letting go his hold of the bottom,with so strong a set of the water to leeward, and in so light abreeze. There was a sort of bight on our starboard bow, however, andMr. Marble suggested it might be well to sound in that direction, asthe water appeared smooth and deep. To him it looked as if there werereally an eddy in-shore, which might hawse the ship up to windward sixor eight times her length, and thus more than meet the loss that mustinfallibly occur in first casting her head to seaward. The captainadmitted the justice of this suggestion, and I was one of those whowere told to go in the jolly-boat on this occasion. We pulled intowards the cliffs, and had not gone fifty yards before we struck aneddy, sure enough, which was quite as strong as the current in whichthe ship lay. This was a great advantage, and so much the more,because the water was of sufficient depth, quite up to the edge of thereef which formed the bight, and thus produced the change in thedirection of the set. There was plenty of room, too, to handle theship in, and, all things considered, the discovery was extremelyfortunate. In the bottom of the bight we should have gone ashore theprevious night, had not our ears been so much better than our noses.

As soon as certain of the facts, the captain pulled back to the ship,and gladdened the hearts of all on board with the tidings. We nowmanned the handspikes cheerily, and began to heave. I shall neverforget the impression made on me by the rapid drift of the ship, assoon as the anchor was off the bottom, and her bows were castin-shore, in order to fill the sails. The land was so near that Inoted this drift by the rocks, and my heart was fairly in my mouth fora few seconds. But the John worked beautifully, and soon gatheredway. Her bows did not not strike the eddy, however, until we gotfearful evidence of the strength of the true current, which had set usdown nearly as low as the reef outside, to windward of which it wasindispensable for us to pass. Marble saw all this, and he whisperedme to tell the cook to pass the pork into the launch at once--hot tomind whether it were particularly well done, or not. I obeyed, and hadto tend the fore-sheet myself, for my pains, when the order was givento "ready about."

The eddy proved a true friend, but it did not carry us up much higherthan the place where we had anchored, when it became necessary totack. This was done in season, on account of our ignorance of all thesoundings, and we had soon got the John's head off-shoreagain. Drawing a short distance ahead, the main-top-sail was thrownaback, and the ship allowed to drift. In proper time, it was filled,and we got round once more, looking into the bight. The manoeuvre wasrepeated, and this brought us up fairly under the lee of the reef, andjust in the position we desired to be. It was a nervous instant, Imake no doubt, when Captain Robbins determined to trust the ship inthe true current, and run the gauntlet of the rocks. The passageacross which we had to steer, before we could possibly weather thenearest reef was about a cable's length in width, and the wind wouldbarely let us lay high enough to take it at right-angles. Then the airwas so light, that I almost despaired of our doing anything.

Captain Robbins put the ship into the current with great judgment. Shewas kept a rap-full until near the edge of the eddy, and then her helmwas put nearly down, all at once. But for the current's acting, in onedirection, on her starboard bow, and the eddy's pressing, in theother, on the larboard quarter, the vessel would have been takenaback; but these counteracting forces brought her handsomely on hercourse again, and that in a way to prevent her falling an inch toleeward.

Now came the trial. The ship was kept a rap-full, and she wentsteadily across the passage, favoured, perhaps, by a little morebreeze than had blown most of the morning. Still, our leeward set wasfearful, and, as we approached the reef, I gave all up. Marble screwedhis lips together, and his eyes never turned from the weather-leechesof the sails. Everybody appeared to me to be holding his breath, asthe ship rose on the long ground-swells, sending slowly ahead thewhole time. We passed the nearest point of the rocks on one of therounded risings of the water, just touching lightly as we glided bythe visible danger. The blow was light, and gave little cause foralarm. Captain Robbins now caught Mr. Marble by the hand, and was inthe very act of heartily shaking it, when the ship came down very muchin the manner that a man unexpectedly lights on a stone, when he hasno idea of having anything within two or three yards of his feet. Theblow was tremendous, throwing half the crew down; at the same instant,all three of the topmasts went to leeward.

One has some difficulty in giving a reader accurate notions of theconfusion of so awful a scene. The motion of the vessel was arrestedsuddenly, as it might be by a wall, and the whole fabric seemed to beshaken to dissolution. The very next roller that came in, which wouldhave undulated in towards the land but for us, meeting with so large abody in its way, piled up and broke upon our decks, coveringeverything with water. At the same time, the hull lifted, and, aidedby wind, sea and current, it set still further on the reef, thumpingin a way to break strong iron bolts, like so many sticks ofsealing-wax, and cracking the solid live-oak of the floor-timbers asif they were made of willow. The captain stood aghast! For one momentdespair was painfully depicted in his countenance; then he recoveredhis self-possession and seamanship. He gave the order to stand by tocarry out to windward the stream-anchor in the launch, and to send akedge to haul out by, in the jolly-boat. Marble answered with theusual "ay, ay, sir!" but before he sent us into the boats, he venturedto suggest that the ship had bilged already. He had heard timberscrack, about which he thought there could be no mistake. The pumpswere sounded, and the ship had seven feet water in her hold. This hadmade in about ten minutes. Still the captain would not give up. Heordered us to commence throwing the teas overboard, in order toascertain, if possible, the extent of the injury. A place was brokenout in the wake of the main-hatch, and a passage was opened down intothe lower-hold, where we met the water. In the mean time, a South-Seaman we had picked up at Canton, dove down under the lee of the bilgeof the ship. He soon came back and reported that a piece of sharp rockhad gone quite through the planks. Everything tending to corroboratethis, the captain called a council of all hands on the quarter-deck,to consult as to further measures.

A merchantman has no claim on the services of her crew after she ishopelessly wrecked. The last have a lien in law, on the ship andcargo, for their wages; and it is justly determined that when thissecurity fails, the claim for services ends. It followed, of course,that as soon as the John was given over, we were all our own masters;and hence the necessity for bringing even Neb into the consultation.With a vessel of war it would have been different. In such a case, theUnited States pays for the service, ship or no ship, wreck or nowreck; and the seaman serves out his term of enlistment, be thislonger or shorter. Military discipline continues under allcircumstances.

Captain Robbins could hardly speak when we gathered round him on theforecastle, the seas breaking over the quarter-deck in a way to renderthat sanctuary a very uncomfortable berth. As soon as he could commandhimself, he told us that the ship was hopelessly lost. How it hadhappened, he could not very well explain himself, though he ascribedit to the fact that the currents did not run in the direction inwhich, according to all sound reasoning, they ought to run. This partof the speech was not perfectly lucid, though, as I understood ourunfortunate captain, the laws of nature, owing to some inexplicableinfluence, had departed, in some way or other, from their ordinaryworkings, expressly to wreck the John. If this were not the meaning ofwhat he said, I did not understand this part of the address.

The captain was much more explicit after he got out of the current. Hetold us that the island of Bourbon was only about four hundred milesfrom where we then were, and he thought it possible to go thatdistance, find some small craft, and come back, and still save part ofthe cargo, the sails, anchors, &c. &c. We might make such a trip of itas would give us all a lift, in the way of salvage, that might provesome compensation for our other losses. This sounded well, and it hadat least the effect to give us some present object for our exertions;it also made the danger we all ran of losing our lives, lessapparent. To land on the island of Madagascar, in that day, was out ofthe question. The people were then believed to be far less civilizedthan in truth they were, and had a particularly bad character amongmariners. Nothing remained, therefore, but to rig the boats, and makeimmediate dispositions for our departure.

Now it was that we found the advantage of the preparations alreadymade. Little remained to be done, and that which was done, was muchbetter done than if we had waited until the wreck was half full ofwater, and the seas were combing in upon her. The captain took chargeof the launch, putting Mr. Marble, Rupert, Neb, myself and the cook,into the jolly-boat, with orders to keep as close as possible tohimself. Both boats had sails, and both were so arranged as to row incalms, or head-winds. We took in rather more than our share ofprovisions and water, having two skillful caterers in the chief-mateand cook; and, having obtained a compass, quadrant, and a chart, forour portion of the indispensables, all hands were ready for a start,in about two hours after the ship had struck.

It was just noon when we cast off from the wreck, and stood directlyoff the land. According to our calculations, the wind enabled us torun, with a clean full, on our true course. As the boats drew out intothe ocean, we had abundant opportunities of discovering how manydangers we had escaped; and, for my own part, I felt deeply grateful,even then, as I was going out upon the wide Atlantic in a mere shellof a boat, at the mercy we had experienced. No sooner were we fairlyin deep water, than the captain and mate had a dialogue on the subjectof the currents again. Notwithstanding all the difficulties his oldtheory had brought him into, the former remained of opinion that thetrue current set to windward, and that we should so find it as soon aswe got a little into the offing; while the mate was frank enough tosay he had been of opinion, all along, that it ran the other way. Thelatter added that Bourbon was rather a small spot to steer for, and itmight be better to get into its longitude, and then find it bymeridian observations, than to make any more speculations aboutmatters of which we knew nothing.

The captain and Mr. Marble saw things differently, and we kept awayaccordingly, when we ought to have luffed all we could. Fortunatelythe weather continued moderate, or our little boat would have had abad time of it. We outsailed the launch with ease, and were forced toreef in order not to part company. When the sun set, we were more thantwenty miles from the land, seeing no more of the coast, though themountains inland were still looming up grandly in the distance. Iconfess, when night shut in upon us, and I found myself on the wideocean, in a boat much smaller than that with which I used to navigatethe Hudson, running every minute farther and farther into the waterywaste, I began to think of Clawbonny, and its security, and quietnights, and well-spread board, and comfortable beds in a way I hadnever thought of either before. As for food, however, we were notstinted; Mr. Marble setting us an example of using our teeth on thehalf boiled pork, that did credit to his philosophy. To do this manjustice, he seemed to think a run of four hundred miles in ajolly-boat no great matter, but took everything as regularly as ifstill on the deck of the John. Each of us got as good a nap as ourcramped situations would allow.

The wind freshened in the morning, and the sea began to break. Thismade it necessary to keep still more away, to prevent filling attimes, or to haul close up, which might have done equally well. Butthe captain preferred the latter course, on account of the current. Wehad ticklish work of it, in the jolly-boat, more than once that day,and were compelled to carry a whole sail in order to keep up with thelaunch, which beat us, now the wind had increased. Marble was aterrible fellow to carry on everything, ship or boat, and we kept ourstation admirably, the two boats never getting a cable's lengthasunder, and running most of the time within hail of each other. Asnight approached, however, a consultation was held on the subject ofkeeping in company. We had now been out thirty hours, and had madenear a hundred and fifty miles, by our calculation. Luckily the windhad got to be nearly west, and we were running ahead famously, thoughit was as much as we could do to keep the jolly-boat from filling. Onehand was kept bailing most of the time, and sometimes all four of uswere busy. These matters were talked over, and the captain proposedabandoning the jolly-boat altogether, and to take us into the launch,though there was not much vacant space to receive us. But the materesisted this, answering that he thought he could take care of ourboat a while longer, at least. Accordingly, the old arrangement wasmaintained, the party endeavouring to keep as near together aspossible.

About midnight it began to blow in squalls, and two or three times wefound it necessary to take in our sails, our oars, and pull the boathead to sea, in order to prevent her swamping. The consequence was,that we lost sight of the launch, and, though we always kept away toour course as soon as the puffs would allow, when the sun rose we sawnothing of our late companions. I have sometimes thought Mr. Marbleparted company on purpose, though he seemed much concerned nextmorning when he had ascertained the launch was nowhere to beseen. After looking about for an hour, and the wind moderating, wemade sail close on the wind; a direction that would soon have taken usaway from the launch, had the latter been close alongside when wefirst took it. We made good progress all this day, and at evening,having now been out fifty-four hours, we supposed ourselves to berather more than half-way on the road to our haven. It fell calm inthe night, and the next morning we got the wind right aft. This gaveus a famous shove, for we sometimes made six and seven knots in thehour. The fair wind lasted thirty hours, during which time we musthave made more than a hundred and fifty miles, it falling nearly calmabout an hour before dawn, on the morning of the fourth dayout. Everybody was anxious to see the horizon that morning, and everyeye was turned to the east, with intense expectation, as the sunrose. It was in vain; there was not the least sign of landvisible. Marble looked sadly disappointed, but he endeavoured to cheerus up with the hope of seeing the island shortly. We were then headingdue east, with a very light breeze from the north-west. I happened tostand up in the boat, on a thwart, and, turning my face to thesouthward, I caught a glimpse of something that seemed like a hummockof land in that quarter. I saw it but for an instant; but, whatever itwas, I saw it plain enough. Mr. Marble now got on the thwart, andlooked in vain to catch the same object. He said there was no land inthat quarter--could be none--and resumed his seat to steer to theeastward, a little north. I could not be easy, however, but remainedon the thwart until the boat lifted on a swell higher than common, andthen I saw the brown, hazy-looking spot on the margin of the oceanagain. My protestations now became so earnest, that Marble consentedto stand for an hour in the direction I pointed out to him. "One hour,boy, I will grant you, to shut your mouth," the mate said, taking outhis watch, "and that you need lay nothing to my door hereafter." Tomake the most of this hour, I got my companions at the oars, and weall pulled with hearty good-will. So much importance did I attach toevery fathom of distance made, that we did not rise from our seatsuntil the mate told us to stop rowing, for the hour was up. As forhimself, he had not risen either, but kept looking behind him to theeastward, still hoping to see land somewhere in that quarter.

My heart beat violently as I got upon the thwart, but there lay myhazy object, now never dipping at all. I shouted "land ho!" Marblejumped up on a thwart, too and no longer disputed my word. It wasland, he admitted, and it must be the island of Bourbon, which we hadpassed to the northward, and must soon have given a hopelessly wideberth. We went to the oars again with renewed life, and soon made theboat spin. All that day we kept rowing, until about five in theafternoon, when we found ourselves within a few leagues of the islandof Bourbon, where we were met by a fresh breeze from the southward,and were compelled to make sail. The wind was dead on end, and we madestretches under the lee of the island, going about as we found the seagetting to be too heavy for us, as was invariably the case whenever wegot too far east or west. In a word, a lee was fast becomingnecessary. By ten, we were within a mile of the shore, but saw noplace where we thought it safe to attempt a landing in the dark; along, heavy sea setting in round both sides of the island, though thewater did not break much where we remained. At length the wind got tobe so heavy, that we could not carry even our sail double-reefed, andwe kept two oars pulling lightly in, relieving each other everyhour. By daylight it blew tremendously, and glad enough were we tofind a little cove where it was possible to get ashore. I had thennever felt so grateful to Providence as I did when I got my feet on_terra-firma_.

We remained on the island a week, hoping to see the launch and hercrew; but neither appeared. Then we got a passage to the Isle ofFrance, on arriving at which place we found the late gale wasconsidered to have been very serious. There was no American consul inthe island, at that time; and Mr. Marble, totally without credit ormeans, found it impossible to obtain a craft of any sort to go to thewreck in. We were without money, too, and, a homeward-bound Calcuttavessel coming in, we joined her to work our passages home, Mr. Marbleas dickey, and the rest of us in the forecastle. This vessel wascalled the Tigris, and belonged to Philadelphia. She was consideredone of the best ships out of America, and her master had a highreputation for seamanship and activity. He was a little man of thename of Digges, and was under thirty at the time I first knew him. Hetook us on board purely out of a national feeling, for his ship wasstrong-handed without us, having thirty-two souls, all told, when hereceived us five. We afterwards learned that letters sent after theship had induced Captain Digges to get five additional hands inCalcutta, in order to be able to meet the picaroons that were thenbeginning to plunder American vessels, even on their own coast, underthe pretence of their having violated certain regulations made by thetwo great belligerents of the day, in Europe. This was just thecommencement of the _quasi_ war which broke out a few weeks laterwith France.

Of all these hostile symptoms, however, I then knew little and caredless. Even Mr. Marble had never heard of them and we five joined theTigris merely to get passages home, without entertaining secondthoughts of running any risk, further than the ordinary dangers of theseas.

The Tigris sailed the day we joined her, which was the third after wereached Mauritius, and just fifteen days after we had left thewreck. We went to sea with the wind at the southward, and had a goodrun off the island, making more than a hundred miles that afternoonand in the course of the night. Next morning, early, I had the watch,and an order was given to set top-gallant studding-sails. Rupert and Ihad got into the same watch on board this vessel, and we both wentaloft to reeve the gear. I had taken up the end of the halyards, andhad reeved them, and had overhauled the end down, when, in raising myhead, I saw two small lug-sails on the ocean, broad on ourweather-bow, which I recognised in an instant for those of the John'slaunch. I cannot express the feeling that came over me at that sight.I yelled, rather than shouted, "Sail ho!" and then, pushing in, Icaught hold of a royal-backstay, and was on deck in an instant. Ibelieve I made frantic gestures to windward, for Mr. Marble, who hadthe watch, had to shake me sharply before I could let the fact beknown.

As soon as Marble comprehended me, and got the bearings of the boat,he hauled down all the studding-sails, braced sharp up on a wind, setthe mainsail, and then sent down a report to Captain Digges fororders. Our new commander was a humane man, and having been told ourwhole story, he did not hesitate about confirming all that had beendone. As the people in the launch had made out the ship some timebefore I saw the boat, the latter was running down upon us, and, inabout an hour, the tiny sails were descried from the deck. In lessthan an hour after this, our mainyard swung round, throwing thetopsail aback, and the well-known launch of the John rounded-to closeunder our lee; a rope was thrown, and the boat was hauled alongside.

Everybody in the Tigris was shocked when we came to get a look at thecondition of the strangers. One man, a powerful negro, lay dead in thebottom of the boat; the body having been kept for a dreadfulalternative, in the event of his companions falling in with no otherrelief. Three more of the men were nearly gone, and had to be whippedon board as so many lifeless bales of goods. Captain Robbins and Kite,both athletic, active men, resembled spectres, their eyes standing outof their heads as if thrust from their sockets by some internal foe;and when we spoke to them, they all seemed unable to answer. It wasnot fasting, or want of food, that had reduced them to this state, somuch as want of water. It is true, they had no more bread left thanwould keep body and soul together for a few hours longer; but of waterthey had tasted not a drop for seventy odd hours! It appeared that,during the gale, they had been compelled to empty the breakers tolighten the boat, reserving only one for their immediate wants. Bysome mistake, the one reserved was nearly half-empty at the time; andCaptain Robbins believed himself then so near Bourbon, as not to go onan allowance until it was too late. In this condition had they beensearching for the island quite ten days, passing it, but never hittingit. The winds had not favoured them, and, the last few days, theweather had been such as to admit of no observation. Consequently,they had been as much out of their reckoning in their latitude, as intheir longitude.

A gleam of intelligence, and I thought of pleasure, shot athwart thecountenance of Captain Robbins, as I helped him over the Tigris'sside. He saw I was safe. He tottered as he walked, and leaned heavilyon me for support. I was about to lead him aft, but his eye caughtsight of a scuttlebutt, and the tin-pot on its head. Thither he went,and stretched out a trembling hand to the vessel. I gave him the potas it was, with about a wine-glass of water in it This he swallowed ata gulp, and then tottered forward for more. By this time CaptainDigges joined us, and gave the proper directions how to proceed. Allthe sufferers had water in small quantities given them, and it iswonderful with what expressions of delight they received the gratefulbeverage. As soon as they understood the necessity of keeping it aslong as possible in their mouths, and on their tongues, beforeswallowing it, a little did them a great deal of good. After this, wegave them some coffee, the breakfast being ready, and then a littleship's biscuit soaked in wine. By such means every man was saved,though it was near a month before all were themselves again. As forCaptain Robbins and Kite, they were enabled to attend to duty by theend of a week, though nothing more was exacted of them than they choseto perform.

CHAPTER VI.

"The yesty waves Confound and swallow navigation up." _Macbeth._

Poor Captain Robbins! No sooner did he regain his bodily strength,than he began to endure the pain of mind that was inseparable from theloss of his ship. Marble, who, now that he had fallen to the humblercondition of a second-mate, was more than usually disposed to becommunicative with me, gave me to understand that our old superior hadat first sounded Captain Digges on the subject of proceeding to thewreck, in order to ascertain what could be saved; but the latter hadsoon convinced him that a first-rate Philadelphia Indiaman hadsomething else to do besides turning wrecker. After a pretty broadhint to this effect, the John, and all that was in her, were abandonedto their fate. Marble, however, was of opinion that the gale in whichthe launch came so near being lost, must have broken the ship entirelyto pieces, giving her fragments to the ocean. We never heard of herfate, or recovered a single article that belonged to her.

Many were the discussions between Captain Robbins and his two mates,touching the error in reckoning that had led them so far from theircourse. In that day, navigation was by no means as simple a thing asit has since become. It is true, lunars were usually attempted inIndia and China ships; but this was not an every-day affair, like thepresent morning and afternoon observations to obtain the time, and, bymeans of the chronometer, the longitude. Then we had so recently gotclear of the islands, as to have no great need of any extraordinaryhead-work; and the "bloody currents" had acted their pleasure with usfor eight or ten days before the loss of the ship. Marble was a verygood navigator, one of the best I ever sailed with, in spite of theplainness of his exterior, and his rough deportment; and, all thingsconsidered, he treated his old commander with great delicacy,promising to do all he could, when he got home, to clear the matterup. As for Kite, he knew but little, and had the discretion to say butlittle. This moderation rendered our passage all the more agreeable.

The Tigris was a very fast ship, besides being well-found. She was alittle larger than the John, and mounted twelve guns, nine-pounders.In consequence of the additions made to her crew, one way and another,she now mustered nearer fifty than forty souls on board. CaptainDigges had certain martial tastes, and, long before we were up withthe Cape, he had us all quartered and exercised at the guns. He, too,had had an affair with some proas, and he loved to converse of thethreshing he had given the rascals. I thought he envied us ourexploit, though this might have been mere imagination on my part, forhe was liberal enough in his commendations. The private intelligencehe had received of the relations between France and America, quickenedhis natural impulses; and, by the time we reached St. Helena, the shipmight have been said to be in good fighting order for a merchantman.We touched at this last-mentioned island for supplies, but obtained nonews of any interest. Those who supplied the ship could tell usnothing but the names of the Indiamen who had gone out and home forthe last twelvemonth, and the prices of fresh meat and vegetables.Napoleon civilized them, seventeen years later.

We had a good run from St. Helena to the calm latitudes, but theselast proved calmer than common. We worried through them after a while,however, and then did very well until we got in the latitude of theWindward Islands. Marble one day remarked to me that Captain Diggeswas standing closer to the French island of Guadaloupe than was at allnecessary or prudent, if he believed in his own reports of the dangerthere existed to American commerce, in this quarter of the ocean.

I have lived long enough, and have seen too much of men and things, tofancy my country and countrymen right in all their transactions,merely because newspapers, members of congress, and fourth of Julyorators, are pleased to affirm the doctrine. No one can go much to seawithout reading with great distrust many of the accounts, in thejournals of the day, of the grievous wrongs done the commerce ofAmerica by the authorities of this or that port, the seizure of such aship, or the imprisonment of some particular set of officers andmen. As a rule, it is safer to assume that the afflicted partiesdeserve all that has happened to them, than to believe themimmaculate; and, quite likely, much more, too. The habit of receivingsuch appeals to their sympathies, renders the good people of therepublic peculiarly liable to impositions of this nature; and themother who encourages those of her children who fetch and carry, willbe certain to have her ears filled with complaints and tattle.Nevertheless, it is a fact beyond all dispute, that the commerce ofthe country was terribly depredated on by nearly all the Europeanbelligerents, between the commencement of the war of the Frenchrevolution and its close. So enormous were the robberies thuscommitted on the widely extended trade of this nation, under onepretence or another, as to give a colouring of retributive justice, ifnot of moral right, to the recent failures of certain States among usto pay their debts. Providence singularly avenges all wrongs by itsunerring course; and I doubt not, if the facts could be sifted to thebottom, it would be found the devil was not permitted to do his work,in either case, without using materials supplied by the sufferers, insome direct or indirect manner, themselves. Of all the depredations onAmerican trade just mentioned, those of the great sister republic, atthe close of the last century, were among the most grievous, and wereof a character so atrocious and bold, that I confess it militatessomewhat against my theory to admit that France owns very little ofthe "suspended debt;" but I account for this last circumstance by thereparation she in part made, by the treaty of 1831. With England it isdifferent. She drove us into a war by the effects of her orders incouncil and paper blockades, and compelled us to expend a hundredmillions to set matters right. I should like to see the booksbalanced, not by the devil, who equally instigated the robberies onthe high seas, and the "suspension" or "repudiation" of the Statedebts; but by the great Accountant who keeps a record of all our deedsof this nature, whether it be to make money by means of cruisingships, or cruising scrip. It is true, these rovers encountered verydifferently-looking victims, in the first place; but it is a somewhattrite remark, that the aggregate of human beings is pretty much thesame in all situations. There were widows and orphans as muchconnected with the condemnation of prizes, as with the prices ofcondemned stock; and I do not see that fraud is any worse when carriedon by scriveners and clerks with quills behind their ears, than whencarried on by gentlemen wearing cocked hats, and carrying swords bytheir sides. On the whole, I am far from certain that theaccount-current of honesty is not slightly--honesty very _slightly_leavens either transaction--in favour of the non-paying States, as mendo sometimes borrow with good intentions, and fail, from inability, topay; whereas, in the whole course of my experience, I never knew acaptor of a ship who intended to give back any of the prize-money, ifhe could help it. But, to return to my adventures.

We were exactly in the latitude of Guadaloupe, with the usual breeze,when, at daylight, a rakish-looking brig was seen in chase. CaptainDigges took a long survey of the stranger with his best glass, onethat was never exhibited but on state occasions, and then hepronounced him to be a French cruiser; most probably a privateer. Thathe was a Frenchman, Marble affirmed, was apparent by the height of histop-masts, and the shortness of his yards; the upper spars, inparticular, being mere apologies for yards. Everybody who had anyright to an opinion, was satisfied the brig was a French cruiser,either public or private.

The Tigris was a fast ship, and she was under top-mast and top-gallantstudding-sails at the time, going about seven knots. The brig was onan easy bowline, evidently looking up for our wake, edging offgradually as we drew ahead. She went about nine knots, and bade fairto close with us by noon. There was a good deal of doubt, aft, as tothe course we ought to pursue. It was decided in the end, however, toshorten sail and let the brig come up, as being less subject tocavils, than to seem to avoid her. Captain Digges got out his lastletters from home, and I saw him showing them to Captain Robbins, thetwo conning them over with great earnestness. I was sent to do someduty near the hencoops, where they were sitting, and overheard a partof their conversation. From the discourse, I gathered that theproceedings of these picaroons were often equivocal, and thatAmericans were generally left in doubt, until a favourable momentoccurred for the semi-pirates to effect their purposes. The partyassailed did not know when or how to defend himself, until it was toolate.

"I'll not be taken by surprise in that fashion," returned Digges,after a moment of reflection. "Here, you Miles, go forward and tellthe cook to fill his coppers with water, and to set it boiling as fastas he can; and tell Mr. Marble I want him aft. Bear a hand, now,youngster, and give them a lift yourself."

Of course I obeyed, wondering what the captain wanted with so much hotwater as to let the people eat their dinners off cold grub, ratherthan dispense with it; for this was a consequence of his decree. Butwe had not got the coppers half-filled, before I saw Mr. Marble andNeb lowering a small ship's engine from the launch, and placing itnear the galley, in readiness to be filled. The mate told Neb to screwon the pipe, and then half a dozen of the men, as soon as we gotthrough with the coppers, were told to fill the engine withsea-water. Captain Digges now came forward to superintend theexercise, and Neb jumped on the engine, flourishing the pipe aboutwith the delight of a "nigger." The captain was diverted with theblack's zeal, and he appointed him captain of the firemen on the spot.

"Now, let us see what you can do at that forward dead eye, darky,"said Captain Digges, laughing. "Take it directly on the strap. Playaway, boys, and let Neb try his hand."

It happened that Neb hit the dead-eye at the first jet, and he showedgreat readiness in turning the stream from point to point, asordered. Neb's conduct on the night of the affair with the proas hadbeen told to Captain Digges, who was so well pleased with the fellow'spresent dexterity, as to confirm him in office. He was told to stickby the engine at every hazard. Soon after, an order was given to clearfor action. This had an ominous sound to my young ears, and, though Ihave no reason to suppose myself deficient in firmness, I confess Ibegan to think again of Clawbonny, and Grace, and Lucy; ay, and evenof the mill. This lasted but for a moment, however, and, as soon as Igot at work, the feeling gave me no trouble. We were an hour gettingthe ship ready, and, by that time, the brig was within half a mile,luffing fairly up on our lee-quarter. As we had shortened sail, theprivateer manifested no intention of throwing a shot to make usheave-to. She seemed disposed to extend courtesy for courtesy.

The next order was for all hands to go to quarters. I was stationed inthe main-top, and Rupert in the fore. Our duties were to do lightwork, in the way of repairing damages; and the captain, understandingthat we were both accustomed to fire-arms, gave us a musket a-piece,with orders to blaze away as soon as they began the work below. As wehad both stood fire once, we thought ourselves veterans, and proceededto our stations, smiling and nodding to each other as we went up therigging. Of the two, my station was the best, since I could see theapproach of the brig, the mizen-top-sail offering but littleobstruction to vision after she got near; whereas the main-top-sailwas a perfect curtain, so far as poor Rupert was concerned. In the wayof danger, there was not much difference as to any of the stations onboard, the bulwarks of the ship being little more than plank thatwould hardly stop a musket-ball; and then the French had a reputationfor firing into the rigging.

As soon as all was ready, the captain sternly ordered silence. By thistime the brig was near enough to hail. I could see her decks quiteplainly, and they were filled with men. I counted her guns, too, andascertained she had but ten, all of which seemed to be lighter thanour own. One circumstance that I observed, however, was suspicious.Her forecastle was crowded with men, who appeared to be crouchingbehind the bulwarks, as if anxious to conceal their presence from theeyes of those in the Tigris. I had a mind to jump on a back-stay andslip down on deck, to let this threatening appearance be known; but Ihad heard some sayings touching the imperative duty of remaining atquarters in face of the enemy, and I did not like to desert mystation. Tyroes have always exaggerated notions both of their rightsand their duties, and I had not escaped the weakness. Still, I thinksome credit is due for the alternative adopted. During the wholevoyage, I had kept a reckoning, and paper and pencil were always in mypocket, in readiness to catch a moment to finish a day's work. I wroteas follows on a piece of paper, therefore, as fast as possible, anddropped the billet on the quarter-deck, by enclosing a copper in thescrawl, _cents_ then being in their infancy. I had merelywritten--"The brig's forecastle is filled with armed men, hid behindthe bulwarks!" Captain Digges heard the fall of the copper, andlooking up--nothing takes an officer's eyes aloft quicker than to findanything coming out of a top!--he saw me pointing to the paper. I wasrewarded for this liberty by an approving nod. Captain Digges readwhat I had written, and I soon observed Neb and the cook filling theengine with boiling water. This job was no sooner done than a goodplace was selected on the quarter-deck for this singular implement ofwar, and then a hail came from the brig.

"Vat zat sheep is?" demanded some one from the brig.

"The Tigris of Philadelphia, from Calcutta _home_. What brig is_that_?"

"_La Folie--corsair Francais_. From vair you come?"

"From Calcutta. And where are _you_ from?"

"Guadaloupe. Vair you go, eh?"

"Philadelphia. Do not luff so near me; some accident may happen."

"Vat you call '_accident_?' Can nevair hear, eh? I will come_tout pres_."

"Luff a little, and keep his spar clear," cried our captain. "Squirtaway, Neb, and let us see what you can do!"

The engine made a movement, just as the French began to run out ontheir bowsprit, and, by the time six or eight were on the heel of thejib-boom, they were met by the hissing hot stream, which took them_en echelon_, as it might be, fairly raking the whole line. Theeffect was instantaneous. Physical nature cannot stand excessive heat,unless particularly well supplied with skin; and the three leadingFrenchmen, finding retreat impossible, dropped incontinently into thesea, preferring cold water to hot--the chances of drowning, to thecertainty of being scalded. I believe all three were saved by theircompanions in-board, but I will not vouch for the fact. The remainderof the intended boarders, having the bowsprit before them, scrambledback upon the brig's forecastle as well as they could, betraying, bythe random way in which their hands flew about, that they had aperfect consciousness how much they left their rear exposed on theretreat. A hearty laugh was heard in all parts of the Tigris, and thebrig, putting her helm hard up, wore round like a top, as if she werescalded herself.[*]

[Footnote *: This incident actually occurred in the war of 1798]

We all expected a broadside now; but of that there was littleapprehension, as it was pretty certain we carried the heaviestbattery, and had men enough to work it. But the brig did not fire, Isuppose because we fell off a little ourselves, and she perceived itmight prove a losing game. On the contrary, she went quite round onher heel, hauling up on the other tack far enough to bring the twovessels exactly _dos a dos_. Captain Digges ordered two of thequarter-deck nines to be run out of the stern-ports; and it was wellhe did, for it was not in nature for men to be treated as our friendsin the brig had been served, without manifesting certain signs ofill-humour. The vessels might have been three cables' lengths asunderwhen we got a gun. The first I knew of the shot was to hear it plungethrough the mizen-top-sail, then it came whistling through my top,between the weather-rigging and the mast-head, cutting a hole throughthe main-top-sail, and, proceeding onward, I heard it strike somethingmore solid than canvass. I thought of Rupert and the fore-top in aninstant, and looked anxiously down on deck to ascertain if he wereinjured.

"Fore-top, there!" called out Captain Digges. "Where did that shotstrike?"

Both our nines were fired, and, a few seconds after, three cheersarose from the decks of our ship. I could not see the brig, now, forthe mizen-top-sail; but I afterwards learned that we had shot away hergaff. This terminated the combat, in which the glory was acquiredprincipally by Neb. They told me, when I got down among the peopleagain, that the black's face had been dilated with delight the wholetime, though he stood fairly exposed to musketry, his mouth grinningfrom ear to ear. Neb was justly elated with the success that attendedthis exhibition of his skill, and described the retreat of our enemieswith a humour and relish that raised many a laugh at the discomfitedprivateersman. It is certain that some of the fellows must have beennearly parboiled.

I have always supposed this affair between la Folie and the Tigris tohave been the actual commencement of hostilities in the _quasi_war of 1798-9 and 1800. Other occurrences soon supplanted it in thepublic mind; but we of the ship never ceased to regard the adventureas one of great national interest. It did prove to be a nine days'wonder in the newspapers.

From this time, nothing worthy of being noted occurred, until wereached the coast. We had got as high as the capes of Virginia, andwere running in for the land, with a fair wind, when we made a shipin-shore of us. The stranger hauled up to speak us, as soon as we wereseen. There was a good deal of discussion about this vessel, as shedrew near, between Captain Digges and his chief-mate. The latter saidhe knew the vessel, and that it was an Indiaman out of Philadelphia,called the Ganges, a sort of sister craft to our own ship; while theformer maintained, if it were the Ganges at all, she was so altered asscarcely to be recognised. As we got near, the stranger threw a shotunder our fore-foot, and showed an American pennant and ensign.Getting a better look at her, we got so many signs of a vessel-of-warin our neighbour, as to think it wisest to heave-to, when the othervessel passed under our stern, tacked, and lay with her head-yardsaback, a little on our weather-quarter. As she drew to windward, wesaw her stern, which had certain national emblems, but no name on it.This settled the matter. She was a man-of-war, and she carried theAmerican flag! Such a thing did not exist a few months before, when weleft home, and Captain Digges was burning with impatience to knowmore. He was soon gratified.

"Is not that the Tigris?" demanded a voice, through a trumpet, fromthe stranger.

"Ay, ay! What ship is that?"

"The United States' Ship Ganges, Captain Dale; from the capes of theDelaware, bound on a cruise. You're welcome home, Captain Digges; wemay want some of your assistance under a cockade."

Digges gave a long whistle, and then the mystery was out. This provedto be the Ganges, as stated, an Indiaman bought into a new navy, andthe first ship-of-war ever sent to sea under the government of thecountry, as it had existed since the adoption of the constitution,nine years before. The privateers of France had driven the republicinto an armament, and ships were fitting out in considerable numbers;some being purchased, like the Ganges, and others built expressly forthe new marine. Captain Digges went on board the Ganges, and, pullingan oar in his boat, I had a chance of seeing that vessel also. CaptainDale, a compact, strongly-built, seaman-like looking man, in a blueand white uniform, received our skipper with a cordial shake of thehand, for they had once sailed together, and he laughed heartily whenhe heard the story of the boarding-party and the hot water. Thisrespectable officer had no braggadocia about him, but he intimatedthat it would not be long, as he thought, before the rovers among theislands would have their hands full. Congress was in earnest, and thewhole country was fairly aroused. Whenever that happens in America, itis usually to take a new and better direction than to follow theordinary blind impulses of popular feelings. In countries where themasses count for nothing, in the every-day working of their systems,excitement has a tendency to democracy; but, among ourselves, I thinkthe effect of such a condition of things is to bring into action menand qualities that are commonly of little account, and to elevate,instead of depressing, public sentiment.

I was extremely pleased with the manly, benevolent countenance ofCaptain Dale, and had half a desire to ask leave to join his ship onthe spot. If that impulse had been followed, it is probable my futurelife would have been very different from what it subsequentlyproved. I should have been rated a midshipman, of course; and, servingso early, with a good deal of experience already in ships, a year ortwo would have made me a lieutenant, and, could I have survived thepruning of 1801, I should now have been one of the oldest officers inthe service. Providence directed otherwise; and how much was lost, orhow much gained, by my continuance in the Tigris, the reader willlearn as we proceed.

As soon as Captain Digges had taken a glass or two of wine with hisold acquaintance, we returned to our own ship, and the two vesselsmade sail; the Ganges standing off to the northward and eastward,while we ran in for the capes of the Delaware. We got in under CapeMay, or within five miles of it, the same evening, when it fell nearlycalm. A pilot came off from the cape in a row-boat, and he reached usjust at dark. Captain Robbins now became all impatience to land, as itwas of importance to him to be the bearer of his own badnews. Accordingly, an arrangement having been made with the two menwho belonged to the shore-boat, our old commander, Rupert and myself,prepared to leave the ship, late as it was. We two lads were taken forthe purpose of manning two additional oars, but were to rejoin theship in the bay, if possible; if not, up at town. One of theinducements of Captain Robbins to be off, was the signs of northerlyweather. It had begun to blow a little in puffs from the north-west;and everybody knew, if it came on to blow seriously from that quarter,the ship might be a week in getting up the river, her news beingcertain to precede her. We hurried off accordingly, taking nothingwith us but a change of linen, and a few necessary papers.

We got the first real blast from the north-west in less than fiveminutes after we had quitted the Tigris's side, and while the ship wasstill visible, or, rather, while we could yet see the lights in hercabin-windows, as she fell off before the wind. Presently the lightsdisappeared, owing, no doubt, to the ship's luffing again. Thesymptoms now looked so threatening, that the pilot's men proposedmaking an effort, before it was too late, to find the ship; but thiswas far easier said than done. The vessel might be spinning awaytowards Cape Henlopen, at the rate of six or seven knots; and, withoutthe means of making any signal in the dark, it was impossible toovertake her. I do believe that Captain Robbins would have acceded tothe request of the men, had he seen any probability of succeeding; asit was, there remained no alternative but to pull in, and endeavour toreach the land. We had the light on the cape as our beacon, and theboat's head was kept directly for it, as the wisest course for us topursue.

Changes of wind from south-east to north-west are very common on theAmerican coast. They are almost always sudden; sometimes so much so,as to take ships aback; and the force of the breeze usually comes soearly, as to have produced the saying that a "nor'-wester comesbutt-end foremost." Such proved to be the fact in our case. In lessthan half an hour after it began to blow, the wind would have broughtthe most gallant ship that floated to double-reefed topsails, steeringby, and to reasonably short-canvass, running large. We may have pulleda mile in this half hour, though it was by means of a quick stroke andgreat labour. The Cape May men were vigorous and experienced, and theydid wonders; nor were Rupert and I idle; but, as soon as the sea gotup, it was as much as all four of us could do to keep steerage-way onthe boat. There were ten minutes, during which I really think the boatwas kept head to sea by means of the wash of the waves that drovepast, as we barely held her stationary.

Of course, it was out of the question to continue exertions that wereas useless as they were exhausting. We tried the expedient, however,of edging to the northward, with the hope of getting more under thelee of the land, and, consequently, into smoother water; but it did nogood. The nearest we ever got to the light must have considerablyexceeded a league. At length Rupert, totally exhausted, dropped hisoar, and fell panting on the thwart. He was directed to steer, CaptainRobbins taking his place. I can only liken our situation at thatfearful moment to the danger of a man who is clinging to a cliff itssummit and safety almost in reach of his hand, with the consciousnessthat his powers are fast failing him, and that he must shortly godown. It is true, death was not so certain by our abandoning theeffort to reach the land, but the hope of being saved was faintindeed. Behind us lay the vast and angry Atlantic, without an inch ofvisible land between us and the Rock of Lisbon. We were totallywithout food of any sort, though, luckily, there was a small breakerof fresh water in the boat. The Cape May men had brought off theirsuppers with them, but they had made the meal; whereas the rest of ushad left the Tigris fasting, intending to make comfortable suppers atthe light.

At length Captain Robbins consulted the boatmen, and asked them whatthey thought of our situation. I sat between these men, who had beenremarkably silent the whole time, pulling like giants. Both wereyoung, though, as I afterwards learned, both were married; each havinga wife, at that anxious moment, waiting on the beach of the cape forthe return of the boat. As Captain Robbins put the question, I turnedmy head, and saw that the man behind me, the oldest of the two, was intears. I cannot describe the shock I experienced at this sight. Herewas a man accustomed to hardships and dangers, who was making thestoutest and most manly efforts to save himself and all with him, atthe very moment, so strongly impressed with the danger of oursituation, that his feelings broke forth in a way it is alwaysstartling to witness, when the grief of man is thus exhibited intears. The imagination of this husband was doubtless picturing to hismind the anguish of his wife at that moment, and perhaps the long daysof sorrow that were to succeed. I have no idea he thought of himself,apart from his wife: for a finer, more manly resolute fellow, neverexisted, as he subsequently proved, to the fullest extent.

It seemed to me that the two Cape May men had a sort of desperatereluctance to give up the hope of reaching the land. We were a strongboat's crew, and we had a capital, though a light boat; yet all wouldnot do. About midnight, after pulling desperately for three hours, mystrength was quite gone, and I had to give up the oar. Captain Robbinsconfessed himself in a very little better state, and, it beingimpossible for the boatmen to do more than keep the boat stationary,and that only for a little time longer, there remained no expedientbut to keep off before the wind, in the hope of still falling in withthe ship. We knew that the Tigris was on the starboard tack when weleft her, and, as she would certainly endeavour to keep as close inwith the land as possible, there was a remaining chance that she hadwore ship to keep off Henlopen, and might be heading up aboutnorth-north-east, and laying athwart the mouth of the bay. This leftus just a chance--a ray of hope; and it had now become absolutelynecessary to endeavour to profit by it.

The two Cape May men pulled the boat round, and kept her just ahead ofthe seas, as far as it was in their power; very light touches of theoars sufficing for this, where it could be done at all. Occasionally,however, one of those chasing waves would come after us, at a racer'sspeed, invariably breaking at such instants, and frequentlyhalf-filling the boat. This gave us new employment, Rupert and myselfbeing kept quite half the time bailing. No occupation, notwithstandingthe danger, could prevent me from looking about the cauldron of angrywaters, in quest of the ship. Fifty times did I fancy I saw her, andas often did the delusive idea end in disappointment. The waste ofdark waters, relieved by the gleaming of the combing seas, alone metthe senses. The wind blew directly down the estuary, and, in crossingits mouth, we found too much swell to receive it on our beam, and weresoon compelled, most reluctantly though it was, to keep dead away toprevent swamping. This painful state of expectation may have lastedhalf an hour, the boat sometimes seeming ready to fly out of thewater, as it drifted before the gale, when Rupert unexpectedly calledout that he saw the ship!

There she was, sure enough, with her head to the northward andeastward, struggling along through the raging waters, under her foreand main-top-sails, close-reefed, and reefed courses, evidentlyclinging to the land as close as she could, both to hold her own andto make good weather. It was barely light enough to ascertain thesefacts, though the ship was not a cable's length from us when firstdiscovered. Unfortunately, she was dead to leeward of us, and wasdrawing ahead so fast as to leave the probability she would forereachupon us, unless we took to all our oars. This was done as soon aspossible, and away we went, at a rapid rate, aiming to shoot directlybeneath the Tigris's lee-quarter, so as to round-to under shelter ofher hull, there to receive a rope.

We pulled like giants. Three several times the water slapped into us,rendering the boat more and more heavy; but Captain Bobbins told us topull on, every moment being precious. As I did not lookround--_could_ not well, indeed--I saw no more of the ship untilI got a sudden glimpse of her dark hull, within a hundred feet of us,surging ahead in the manner in which vessels at sea seem to takesudden starts that carry them forward at twice their former apparentspeed. Captain Robbins had begun to hail, the instant he thoughthimself near enough, or at the distance of a hundred yards; but whatwas the human voice amid the music of the winds striking the variouscords, and I may add _chords_, in the mazes of a square-riggedvessel's hamper, accompanied by the base of the roaring ocean!Heavens! what a feeling of despair was that, when the novel thoughtsuggested itself almost simultaneously to our minds, that we shouldnot make ourselves heard! I say simultaneously, for at the sameinstant the whole five of us set up a common, desperate shout to alarmthose who were so near us, and who might easily save us from the mostdreadful of all deaths--starvation at sea. I presume the fearfulmanner in which we struggled at the oars diminished the effect of ourvoices, while the effort to raise a noise lessened our power with theoars. We were already to leeward of the ship, though nearly in herwake, and our only chance now was to over take her. The captain calledout to us to pull for life or death, and pull we did. So frantic wereour efforts, that I really think we should have succeeded, had not asea come on board us, and filled us to the thwarts. There remained noalternative but to keep dead away, and to bail for our lives.

I confess I felt scalding tears gush down my cheeks, as I gazed at thedark mass of the ship just before it was swallowed up in the gloom.This soon occurred, and then, I make no doubt, every man in the boatconsidered himself as hopelessly lost. We continued to bail,notwithstanding; and, using hats, gourds, pots and pails, soon clearedthe boat, though it was done with no other seeming object than toavert immediate death. I heard one of the Cape May men pray. The nameof his wife mingled with his petitions to God. As for poor CaptainRobbins, who had so recently been in another scene of equal danger ina boat, he remained silent, seemingly submissive to the decrees ofProvidence.

In this state we must have drifted a league dead before the wind, theCape May men keeping their eyes on the light, which was just sinkingbelow the horizon, while the rest of us were gazing seaward in ominousexpectation of what awaited us in that direction, when the hail of"Boat ahoy!" sounded like the last trumpet in our ears. A schoonerwas passing our track, keeping a little off, and got so near as toallow us to be seen, though, owing to a remark about the light whichdrew all eyes to windward, not a soul of us saw her. It was too lateto avert the blow, for the hail had hardly reached us, when theschooner's cut-water came down upon our little craft, and buried it inthe sea as if it had been lead. At such moments men do not think, butact. I caught at a bob-stay, and missed it. As I went down into thewater, my hand fell upon some object to which I clung, and, theschooner rising at the next instant, I was grasped by the hair by oneof the vessel's men. I had hold of one of the Cape May men's legs.Released from my weight, this man was soon in the vessel's head, andhe helped to save me. When we got in-board, and mustered our party itwas found that all had been saved but Captain Robbins. The schoonerwore round, and actually passed over the wreck of the boat a secondtime; but our old commander was never heard of more!

CHAPTER VII.

"Oh! forget not the hour, when through forest and vale We returned with our chief to his dear native halls! Through the woody Sierra there sigh'd not a gale, And the moonbeam was bright on his battlement walls; And nature lay sleeping in calmness and light, Round the house of the _truants_, that rose on our sight." MRS. HEMANS.

We had fallen on board an eastern coaster, called the MarthaWallis. bound from James' River to Boston, intending to cross theshoals. Her watch had seen us, because the coasters generally keepbetter look-outs than Indiamen; the latter, accustomed to goodoffings, having a trick of letting their people go to sleep in thenight-watches. I made a calculation of the turns on board the Tigris,and knew it was Mr. Marble's watch when we passed the ship; and I makeno question he was, at that very moment, nodding on the hencoops--asort of trick he had. I cannot even now understand, however, why theman at the wheel did not hear the outcry we made. To me it appearedloud enough to reach the land.

Sailors ordinarily receive wrecked mariners kindly. Our treatment onboard the Martha Wallis was all I could have desired, and the captainpromised to put us on board the first coaster she should fall in with,bound to New York. He was as good as his word, though not until morethan a week had elapsed. It fell calm as soon as the north-wester blewits pipe out, and we did not get into the Vineyard Sound for ninedays. Here we met a craft the skipper knew, and, being a regularBoston and New York coaster, we were put on board her, with arecommendation to good treatment The people of the Lovely Lassreceived us just as we had been received on board the Martha Wallis;all hands of us living aft, and eating codfish, good beef and pork,with duff (dough) and molasses, almost _ad libitum_. From thislast vessel we learned all the latest news of the French war, and howthings were going on in the country. The fourth day after we were puton board this craft, Rupert and I landed near Peck's Slip, New York,with nothing on earth in our possession, but just in what westood. This, however, gave us but little concern--I had abundance athome, and Rupert was certain of being free from want, both through meand through his father.

I had never parted with the gold given me by Lucy, however. When wegot into the boat to land at the cape, I had put on the belt in whichI kept this little treasure, and it was still round my body. I hadkept it as a sort of memorial of the dear girl who had given it to me;but I now saw the means of making it useful, without disposing of italtogether. I knew that the wisest course, in all difficulties, wasto go at once to head-quarters. I asked the address of the firm thatowned, or rather _had_ owned the John, and proceeded to thecounting-house forthwith. I told my story, but found that Kite hadbeen before me. It seems that the Tigris got a fair wind, three daysafter the blow, that carried her up to the very wharves ofPhiladelphia, when most of the John's people had come on to New Yorkwithout delay. By communications with the shore at the cape, the pilothad learned that his boat had never returned, and our loss wassupposed to have inevitably occurred. The accounts of all this were inthe papers, and I began to fear that the distressing tidings mighthave reached Clawbonny. Indeed, there were little obituary notices ofRupert and myself in the journals, inserted by some hand piouslyemployed, I should think, by Mr. Kite. We were tenderly treated,considering our _escapade_; and _my_ fortune and prospectswere dwelt on with some touches of eloquence that might have beenspared.

In that day, however, a newspaper was a very different thing from whatit has since become. Then, journals were created merely to meet thedemand, and news was given as it actually occurred; whereas, now, thecompetition has produced a change that any one can appreciate, when itis remembered to what a _competition in news_ must infalliblylead. In that day, our own journals had not taken to imitating theworst features of the English newspapers--talents and education arenot yet cheap enough in America to enable them to imitate thebest--and the citizen was supposed to have some rights, as put inopposition to the press. The public sense of right had not becomeblunted by familiarity with abuses, and the miserable and cravenapology was never heard for not enforcing the laws, that nobody caresfor what the newspapers say. Owing to these causes, I escaped athousand lies about myself, my history, my disposition, character andacts. Still, I was in print; and I confess it half-frightened me tosee my death announced in such obvious letters, although I hadphysical evidence of being alive and well.

The owners questioned me closely about the manner in which the Johnwas lost, and expressed themselves satisfied with my answers. I thenproduced my half-joes, and asked to borrow something less than theiramount on their security. To the latter part of the proposition,however, these gentlemen would not listen, forcing a check for ahundred dollars on me, desiring that the money might be paid at my ownconvenience. Knowing I had Clawbonny, and a very comfortable incomeunder my lee, I made no scruples about accepting the sum, and took myleave.

Rupert and I had now the means of equipping ourselves neatly, thoughalways in sailor guise. After this was done, we proceeded to theAlbany basin, in order to ascertain whether the Wallingford were downor not. At the basin we learned that the sloop had gone out that veryforenoon, having on board a black with his young master's effects; alad who was said to have been out to Canton with young Mr.Wallingford, and who was now on his way home, to report all the sadoccurrences to the family in Ulster. This, then, was Neb, who had gotthus far back in charge of our chests, and was about to return toslavery.

We had been in hopes that we might possibly reach Clawbonny before thetidings of our loss. This intelligence was likely to defeat theexpectation; but, luckily, one of the fastest sloops on the river, aHudson packet, was on the point of sailing, and, though the wind heldwell to the northward, her master thought he should be able to turn upwith the tides, as high as our creek, in the course of the nexteight-and-forty hours. This was quite as much as the Wallingford coulddo, I felt well persuaded; and, making a bargain to be landed on thewestern shore, Rupert and I put our things on board this packet, andwere under way in half an hour's time.

So strong was my own anxiety, I could not keep off the deck until wehad anchored on account of the flood; and much did I envy Rupert, whohad coolly turned in as soon as it was dark, and went to sleep. Whenthe anchor was down, I endeavoured to imitate his example. On turningout next morning, I found the vessel in Newburgh Bay, with a fairwind. About twelve o'clock I could see the mouth of the creek, and theWallingford fairly entering it, her sails disappearing behind thetrees, just as I caught sight of them. As no other craft of her sizeever went up to that landing, I could not be mistaken in the vessel.

By getting ashore half a mile above the creek, there was a farm-roadthat would lead to the house by a cut so short, as nearly to bring usthere as soon as Neb could possibly arrive with his dire, but falseintelligence. The place was pointed out to the captain, who hadextracted our secret from us, and who good-naturedly consented to doall we asked of him. I do think he would have gone into the creekitself, had it been required. But we were landed, with our bag ofclothes--one answered very well for both--at the place I havementioned, and, taking turn about to shoulder the wardrobe, away wewent, as fast as legs could carry us. Even Rupert seemed to feel onthis occasion, and I do think he had a good deal of contrition, as hemust have recollected the pain he had occasioned his excellent father,and dear, good sister.

Clawbonny never looked more beautiful than when I first cast eyes onit, that afternoon. There lay the house in the secure retirement ofits smiling vale, the orchards just beginning to lose their blossoms;the broad, rich meadows, with the grass waving in the south wind,resembling velvet; the fields of corn of all sorts; and the cattle, asthey stood ruminating, or enjoying their existence in motionlessself-indulgence beneath the shade of trees, seemed to speak ofabundance and considerate treatment. Everything denoted peace, plentyand happiness. Yet this place, with all its blessings and security,had I wilfully deserted to encounter pirates in the Straits of Sunda,shipwreck on the shores of Madagascar, jeopardy in an open boat offthe Isle of France, and a miraculous preservation from a horribledeath on my own coast!

At no great distance from the house was a dense grove, in which Rupertand I had, with our own hands, constructed a rude summer-house, fit tobe enjoyed on just such an afternoon as this on which we hadreturned. When distant from it only two hundred yards, we saw thegirls enter the wood, evidently taking the direction of the seat. Atthe same moment I caught a glimpse of Neb moving up the road from thelanding at a snail's pace, as if the poor fellow dreaded to encounterthe task before him. After a moment's consultation, we determined toproceed at once to the grove, and thus anticipate the account of Neb,who must pass so near the summer-house as to be seen andrecognised. We met with more obstacles than we had foreseen orremembered, and when we got to a thicket close in the rear of thebench, we found that the black was already in the presence of his two"young mistresses."

The appearance of the three, when I first caught a near view of them,was such as almost to terrify me. Even Neb, whose face was usually asshining as a black bottle, was almost of the colour of ashes. The poorfellow could not speak, and, though Lucy was actually shaking him toextract an explanation, the only answer she could get was tears. Theseflowed from Neb's eyes in streams, and at length the fellow threwhimself on the ground, and fairly began to groan.

"Can this be shame at having run away?" exclaimed Lucy, "or does itforetell evil to the boys?"

"He knows nothing of _them_, not having been with them--yet, Iam terrified."

"Not on my account, dearest sister," I cried aloud; "here are Rupertand I, God be praised, both in good health, and safe."

I took care to remain hid, as I uttered this, not to alarm more thanone sense at a time; but both the girls shrieked, and held out theirarms. Rupert and I hesitated no longer, but sprang forward. I know nothow it happened, though I found, on recovering my self-possession,that I was folding Lucy to my heart, while Rupert was doing the sameto Grace. This little mistake, however, was soon rectified, each manembracing his own sister, as in duty bound, and as was most decorous.The girls shed torrents of tears, and assured us, again and again,that this was the only really happy moment they had known since theparting on the wharf, nearly a twelvemonth before. Then followed looksat each other, exclamations of surprise and pleasure at the changesthat had taken place in the appearance of all parties, and kisses andtears again, in abundance.

As for Neb, the poor fellow was seen in the road, whither he had fledat the sound of my voice, looking at us like one in awe anddoubt. Being satisfied, in the end, of our identity, as well as of ourbeing in the flesh, the negro again threw himself on the ground,rolling over and over, and fairly yelling with delight. After goingthrough this process of negro excitement, he leaped up on his feel,and started for the house, shouting at the top of his voice, as ifcertain the good intelligence he brought would secure his own pardon--"Master Miles come home!--Master Miles come home!"

In a few minutes, quiet was sufficiently restored among us four, whoremained at the seat, to ask questions, and receive intelligibleanswers. Glad was I to ascertain that the girls had been spared thenews of our loss. As for Mr. Hardinge, he was well, and busied, asusual, in discharging the duties of his holy office. He had told Graceand Lucy the name of the vessel in which we had shipped, but saidnothing of the painful glimpse he had obtained of us, just as welifted our anchor, to quit the port. Grace, in a solemn manner, thendemanded an outline of our adventures. As Rupert was the spokesman onthis occasion, the question having been in a manner put to him asoldest, I had an opportunity of watching the sweet countenances of thetwo painfully interested listeners. Rupert affected modesty in hisnarration, if he did not feel it, though I remarked that he dwelt alittle particularly on the shot which had lodged so near him, in thehead of the Tigris's foremast. He spoke of the whistling it made as itapproached, and the violence of the blow when it struck. He had theimpudence, too, to speak of my good-luck in being on the other side ofthe top, when the shot passed through my station; whereas I do believethat the shot passed nearer to me than it did to himself. It barelymissed me, and by all I could learn Rupert was leaning over by thetop-mast rigging when it lodged. The fellow told his story in his ownway, however, and with so much unction that I observed it made Gracelook pale. The effect on Lucy was different. This excellent creatureperceived my uneasiness, I half suspected, for she laughed, and,interrupting her brother, told him, "There--that's enough about thecannon-ball; now let us hear of something else." Rupert coloured, forhe had frequently had such frank hints from his sister, in the courseof his childhood; but he had too much address to betray the vexation Iknew he felt.

To own the truth, my attachment for Rupert had materially lessenedwith the falling off of my respect. He had manifested so muchselfishness during the voyage--had shirked so much duty, most of whichhad fallen on poor Neb--and had been so little of the man, inpractice, whom he used so well to describe with his tongue--that Icould no longer shut my eyes to some of his deficiencies of character.I still liked him; but it was from habit, and perhaps because he wasmy guardian's son, and Lucy's brother. Then I could not conceal frommyself that Rupert was not, in a rigid sense, a lad of truth. Hecoloured, exaggerated, glossed over and embellished, if he did notabsolutely invent. I was not old enough then to understand that mostof the statements that float about the world are nothing but truthsdistorted, and that nothing is more rare than unadulterated fact; thattruths and lies travel in company, as described by Pope in his Templeof Fame, until--

"This or that unmixed, no mortal e'er shall find."

In this very narration of our voyage, Rupert had left falseimpressions on the minds of his listeners, in fifty things. He hadmade far more of both our little skirmishes, than the truth wouldwarrant, and he had neglected to do justice to Neb in his account ofeach of the affairs. Then he commended Captain Robbins's conduct inconnection with the loss of the John, on points that could not besustained, and censured him for measures that deserved praise. I knewRupert was no seaman--was pretty well satisfied, by this time, henever would make one--but I could not explain all his obliquities byreferring them to ignorance. The manner, moreover, in which herepresented himself as the principal actor, on all occasions, denotedso much address, that, while I felt the falsity of the impressions heleft, I did not exactly see the means necessary to counteract them. Soingenious, indeed, was his manner of stringing facts and inferencestogether, or what _seemed_ to be facts and inferences, that Imore than once caught myself actually believing that which, in soberreality, I knew to be false. I was still too young, not quiteeighteen, to feel any apprehensions on the subject of Grace; and wastoo much accustomed to both Rupert and his sister, to regard eitherwith any feelings very widely different from those which I entertainedfor Grace herself.

As soon as the history of our adventures and exploits was concluded,we all had leisure to observe and comment on the alterations that timehad made in our several persons. Rupert, being the oldest, was theleast changed in this particular. He had got his growth early, andwas only a little spread. He had cultivated a pair of whiskers at sea,which rendered his face a little more manly--an improvement, by theway--but, the effects of exposure and of the sun excepted, there was